25 years ago: KU educators speak out on textbook industry

Was the material in school textbooks being watered down to the point that there is little left to challenge students? Some critics were contending that this was the case, but educators at Kansas University disagreed. Evelyn Swartz, a professor of curriculum and instruction at the KU School of Education, said that she had never been censored in the social-studies texts she had authored. She added that in the recent California case in which the school board had rejected about 30 biology texts because they skimmed over evolutionary theory, it was shown that there was generally a low tolerance for "watered-down" texts. Other local textbook educators, however, spoke of their concern about the entire industry and the selection process for books.